I am grateful to live in a temperate region where I can usually get outside for short periods of time even in the dead of winter. Love sunny but cold days to putter around - cleaning up blown down branches, finding a stray bloom here and there, or just making notes of things to do once spring arrives.
Pruning starts for me in late Dec / early Jan and is pretty time consuming. I enjoy that activity as I'm not actually sticking my hands in the cold dirt, and it is physical enough to work up a good warmth.
I always have the intention of winterizing my tools properly, but have so far only done a cursory clean. So, that's high on my winter list yet again.
Cleaning out the garden corner of our barn is a good rainy-day project.
If you have any concrete around your place, pressure washing spruces things up nicely, and with proper rain gear it's not a bad winter chore.
I also use winter for going through My List here and updating with information and photos. Plus organize on the computer my plant pictures, uploading to NGA those that might be of interest.
Find and organize all the various notes I've made during the growing season of what to change for the next season.
Prepare a nursery wish list so when spring comes I'm ready to roll. I've found it best to include the botanical name, common name, and where to plant it. Last year, I limited myself to only buying however many plants I could reasonably expect to get into the ground THAT DAY. Made for more trips to the nursery, but way less losses from plants drying out in their pots, unsure where to put them, etc.
Great thread idea. I look forward to others chiming in.
